Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
We investigated the heat stability of six common therapeutic drugs routinely assayed in pharmacokinetic and clinical laboratories.
DESIGN:
Serum samples were spiked at three concentrations (subtherapeutic, therapeutic, and potentially toxic) with amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, phenytoin, theophylline, and phenobarbital. The samples were then heated at 56 ° and assayed by fluorescence polarization immunoassay at 15-minute intervals for one hour.
SETTING:
The study was conducted at a clinical research laboratory using standard laboratory methods.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Drug concentrations of heated samples were compared with unheated controls using ANOVA to determine if degradation occurred over time with heating.
RESULTS:
Analysis of data revealed no degradation of any of the samples.
CONCLUSIONS:
Heat treatment of samples from high-risk individuals may be a mechanism to protect healthcare workers from exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus.
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